Charles Amirkhanian interviews Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, Professor of Assyriology at the University of California at Berkeley, about an LP ”Sounds from silence; Recent discoveries in ancient Near Eastern music” which documents a previously unknown musical composition dating from around 1400 BC. This ancient fertility hymn from Ugarit caused an international sensation when modern research made available for the first time, the knowledge necessary for the translation of ancient clay tablets which served as a key to various musical scores of the ancient Near East. The record was released by Bit Enki Records in Berkeley, CA, and contains one of the earliest notated songs in the world, performed by Richard Crocker, on a lyre built to ancient specifications by Robert R. Brown. Kilmer talks about the archaeological discoveries that led to the decipherment of this ancient song, as well as providing some background information on ancient musical studies, and her own career as an expert on Near Eastern civilizations. (from KPFA Folio)

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